Automotive vehicles typically include either power or manual remote control mechanisms for adjusting a vehicle side rear-view mirror mounted outside of the passenger compartment, such as on the front door panel, from the interior of the vehicle. The manual control mechanisms commonly use sheathed cables which are routed through the door panel between the control mechanism and the mirror to adjust the horizontal and vertical, or angular, position of the mirror. The control mechanism is most commonly mounted to the interior panel of the door to facilitate easy routing of the cables to the mirror and to eliminate interference with the vehicle operator or passenger compartment area.
Typical examples of such manual remote control mirror adjustment mechanisms are exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,149 to Van Noord, issued Jan. 23, 1973 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,177 to Yamana, issued Feb. 8, 1983. Each of these references include a manual control mechanism connected to the side rear-view mirror by a plurality of cables to adjust the angular position of the mirror from the vehicle interior compartment. The control mechanism includes a base member supporting a pivotal elongated arm which is connected to some form of joint member to alter the longitudinal length of the cables and adjust the position of the mirror. The arm member extends beyond the outer perimeter of the base member from the interior panel to provide access to the operator for adjustment and provide ample range of pivotal movement relative to the base for adjustment of the mirror.
However, it is becoming increasing common to design more stylistic and thin profile interior door panels and interior compartments. The door panel often does not provide adequate surface area or thickness for the mounting of the mirror adjustment mechanism and the routing of the cables through the door panel is becoming increasingly difficult. Therefore, it is desirous to provide alternative areas on the panels within the vehicle interior compartment for mounting of the mirror adjustment mechanism and/or alternative adjustment mechanisms capable of accommodating the limited area for mounting on the door panels or other interior panels. One problem which must be overcome with placing and mounting the adjustment mechanism is the protrusion of the elongated arm member extending from the base member of the mechanism into the interior compartment. The protrusion of the arm member away from the surface of the interior panel makes the adjustment mechanism susceptible to incidental miss-adjustment by being knocked out of adjustment by the operator or passenger.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a remote mirror adjustment mechanism which may be mounted to a variety of interior panels and allow the arm member for manually adjusting the side rear-view mirror to remain recessed in the mechanism or panel when not in use to prevent accidental miss-adjustment of the mirror.